Afternoon Tea on the "Replica" Orient Express

Afternoon Tea on the "Replica" Orient Express

Situated on what was once the Cockermouth, Keswick and Penrith railway line, Bassenthwaite Lake Station saw holidaymakers and haulage alike pass between its platforms between 1865 and 1966, when the Beeching cuts put an end to its operation.

Over the years, the once proud sandstone platforms and stately outbuildings of the station became dilapidated, the trackbed buried and hidden by brambles and the signalmen’s cottages collapsed and became ruins.

The Parum Family, supported by the Lake District National Park Authority, the station and its outbuildings were painstakingly restored over the course of two years, in keeping with the 1930’s era that was inspired by the arrival of the replica train.

The French SNCF Class 241 steam engine that is now a permanent fixture on the track is in fact a replica - the very train that appears in the Kenneth Branagh 2017 film adaptation of Agatha Christie’s novel ‘Murder on the Orient Express’ starring Dame Judi Dench and Johnny Depp. Built a little bit wider than a ‘real life’ train in order to fit in camera crews. This fascinating train has been transformed into a static tea room.

Special care has been taken to preserve the natural beauty of the station’s surroundings, which also serve as a habitat for the many species of native flora and fauna that can be quietly observed from the peace of our wildlife walkway and bird hide. The newly-planted woodland, orchard, and wildflower meadow provide increased habitat diversification.